The Ped Mall is Iowa City’s agora. So I asserted in a post from years ago. And so I’ll assert again today.
The thought came to mind a couple of months ago as I sat on a park bench in spring, one of my first trips to a Ped Mall park bench after the long winter. And it came to mind again – for much worse reasons – as I watched the news coverage in the aftermath of the Ped Mall shooting.
Public coverage of the Ped Mall shooting focused on its impact to students. I mean, a worse shooting in 2017 drew little public interest…because it didn’t involve students.
But the news hit me so hard because the Ped Mall is where everyone comes together. It’s not just a hangout for students on Friday and Saturday night. It’s also a place where a cross-section of our residents come together. We see office workers, homeless people, students, the under-employed, parents with their kids, grandparents with their grandchildren, and so on. All of us.
I don’t spend as much time on the Ped Mall these days as I did while I was a grad student. But it’s still a regular stopping point for me. And I certainly didn’t want to see it muddled up by gun violence.
